Charges upheld in alleged murder-for-hire plot

Posted: Wednesday, September 05, 2007

A Clarke County Superior Court judge has ruled against a woman's request to dismiss attempted murder charges for allegedly trying to hire an undercover police officer to kill her husband, son-in-law and her boyfriend's son in May.

Ivy Jean Davis, 66, faces five counts of solicitation to commit murder and three counts of criminal attempt to commit murder when she stands trial Oct. 1.

Davis' attorney argued during an Aug. 24 hearing that the three attempted murder charges should be dropped because, even if prosecutors could prove that Davis gave the officer money to buy a gun, that "preparatory act" to commit murder isn't the "substantial step" that the indictment alleges.

Judge Steve Jones, who will preside over Davis' trial, ruled Thursday that the charges against Davis are proper, though the woman can request that the solicitation to commit murder and attempted murder charges be combined.

Davis has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is being held without bail in the Clarke County Jail.

The Virginia Lane woman was arrested May 7 in northern Athens-Clarke County as she drove away from a meeting with the officer who posed as a hit man, Athens-Clarke police said.

The indictment alleges that she gave the officer money to buy an untraceable gun and provided a photograph of her son-in-law and directions to his house.

She also wanted the officer to murder a Jones County resident, the son of Davis' boyfriend, according to prosecutors.

A hidden camera recorded the meeting, according to police.

Officials haven't publicly discussed Ivy Jean Davis' motives, though a prosecutor noted during a June bond hearing that 79-year-old Wallace Davis had filed for divorce and took out a restraining order against his wife.

Jones denied Davis' bail request because he said the woman posed a "significant risk" of fleeing and committing another felony.

The couple have been married 40 years and shared a home on Virginia Lane in Madison County, just over the northern Athens-Clarke County line.